


A Picture of Dorian Gray

by martykate



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: F/M, Painting, Penny Dreadful - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 18:03:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4189659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martykate/pseuds/martykate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian Gray has just killed Angelique. Penelope comes in and sees what has happened, but she is neither shocked or horrified. She takes the remnants of Angelique's champagne glass and pours it on his body, then drops the glass and watches it break into a hundred tiny pieces. Dorian offers no true explanation, but she did not expect him to. Instead she tells him about his picture, and about how his very existence and life is tied up with it, warning of what would happen should the painting be destroyed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Picture of Dorian Gray

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have Starz anymore, but I heard about what happened to Angelique. I've seen movies based on Oscar Wilde's book, and have read it a few times. (BTW, it's a great read. Old fashioned, but still a wonderful story). Since I've built a friendship between Dorian and my Penelope character, I decided that she should be the one who warns him about the painting (not being able to see the series, I'm not sure about content), because she loves Dorian, not romantically though they are definite "fuck buddies". Knowing Dorian's fate in the book and movies, I wanted to give him a heads up, hence Penelope warning him about the painting.

TV Shows » Penny Dreadful » Picture of Dorian Gray  
Author: martykate 

 

"Oh, Dorian." He looked up and saw Penelope staring at Angelique's body. "Did you really? No, I know better than to ask." She took the glass out of Angelique's hand and poured it on her body, then deliberately dropped the class, the crystal breaking into a hundred tiny shards.

He put his arm around her waist, "She could have caused problems for me."

"I know, my dear, and I'd rather you than him." She looked down at the body, now so strangely anonymous. "Well, I'm not going to ask you for a glass of champagne right now. You need to get rid of the bottle--and the body."

"Do you mind helping?" He nuzzled her neck and she playfully pushed him away.

"We could take him where I took Ethan. One unmutilated body among the remains of the others really shouldn't make a difference. As long as no bobbies are watching, it wouldn't be a problem. But I am definitely not dressed for hitching horses to your carriage."

"We'll figure something out." He put his arm around her waist and led her to the chair in front of the painting. He sat down and pulled her on his lap as he had so many times before.

"Dorian, the painting's changed again. Can you see?"

He looked, but could not. She could find the tiny nuances that he always missed. Maybe he was too familiar with the painting, maybe he couldn't see because he lacked her psychic sight, but he did not doubt her. "You know how you always tell me I've become its prisoner? Maybe you're right, Penny. Maybe I am tied to it in ways I cannot know."

"Would you like to know your death, Dorian? I've never wanted to tell you how you'll die, before. For one thing, you'd not believe me, but you can die, and you will. Somehow it seems right now that I do, but only if you want to know."

He sat for a moment, silent. He'd lived so long that he had been sure he was immune to death, but if she told him he was facing it, he knew she was telling him the truth. Do I want to know, he thought, and suddenly realized it was important that he did.

"Time will pass," she began softly, "And one day you will look at the painting and despise what you are. You will try to change yourself and your life, but the painting will always remind you of the truth."

"One day you will meet a young girl, lovely and innocent, and at first you are enchanted, then suddenly you find you are in love with her. You will want desperately to change to be worthy of her, and to make the painting a lie. And because you want to, you will believe it is possible."

"You marry this girl, out of love, and for redemption. Then on your wedding night, you steal down here, sure that the picture has changed, for you are sure you have changed."

"You lift the cover, and behold, the painting has not changed, if anything else, it has changed for the worse, for your deception of yourself –and her. You pick up a knife and begin to stab and slash the painting, then you fall dead. And she comes looking for you and finds an old, decrepit man lying on the floor, a knife in his heart. And her heart, hers is thoroughly broken."

Dorian started to laugh, then stopped. "Do you mean this? Is this true?"

She sighed. "Dorian, how many times have I told you that I wanted to destroy this painting, only I was afraid of what would happen to you if I did? The years are starting to wear on you, my dearest friend, I can see it in your eyes. If I knew a spell that would give you relief, I would cast it in a heartbeat."

"You and I, we are evil in our own ways. I thank the gods for my powers, for I will be needing them to help defeat Madame Kali. I'm facing an evil I must battle, and I must use evil to defeat it. You, on the other hand, must battle your own demons. Just remember what I told you, you must never destroy the painting, never! Promise me, Dorian, promise. Put the painting away, hide it, store it, but make sure it is always someplace safe, for its demise will mean yours."

She rose and covered the painting, and took his hand. "Come," she commanded him, and he followed her, knowing that she knew what he wanted, what he craved. And most of all, he wanted suddenly to escape from the painting and she was the only means.


End file.
